11/15
Science & Technology
Shifting sands, creeping soils, and a new understanding of landscape evolution
Shifting sands, creeping soils, and a new understanding of landscape evolution
New experiments show that, even when undisturbed, piles of sand grains are in constant motion, challenging theories of how soils and other types of disordered materials behave.
The alternative fuel life of everyday items
The alternative fuel life of everyday items
Researchers in the Goldberg Group, including Karen Goldberg, Vagelos Professor in Energy Research, and Drew Newman, doctoral candidate in chemistry, focus on alternative fuel sources for items that are part of everyday life.
The infrastructure bill could fix trucking for the long haul
The infrastructure bill could fix trucking for the long haul
As the country explores major infrastructure investments, urban truck ports have the potential to increase the fuel efficiency of trucks, reduce air pollution, and improve the lives of truckers who deliver our critical goods.
Paving the way for ‘next-generation’ lithium-ion batteries
Paving the way for ‘next-generation’ lithium-ion batteries
A new study from Penn Engineering details the complex electrochemical process that causes certain types of batteries to degrade, insights that could aid in the design of longer lasting, more efficient batteries in the future.
Designing public institutions that foster cooperation
Designing public institutions that foster cooperation
People are more likely to cooperate with those they see as “good.” Using a mathematical model, School of Arts & Sciences researchers found it’s possible to design systems that assess and broadcast participants’ reputations, leading to high levels of cooperation and adherence.
Pinpointing how cancer cells turn aggressive
Pinpointing how cancer cells turn aggressive
Penn scientists have developed a new method for tracing the lineage and gene expression patterns of metastatic cancer at the single-cell level.
The use and misuse of race in health care
The use and misuse of race in health care
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff, the Perelman School of Medicine’s Giorgio Sirugo, and Case Western Reserve University’s Scott Williams shed light on the “quagmire” of race, ethnicity, genetic ancestry, and environmental factors and their contribution to health disparities.
For early amphibians, a new lifestyle meant a new spine
For early amphibians, a new lifestyle meant a new spine
Moving from water to land and back again corresponded with distinct changes in animals’ spinal morphology, according to a new study led by paleontologist Aja Carter.
Connecting a star’s chemical composition and planet formation
Connecting a star’s chemical composition and planet formation
Along with developing a new statistical method for studying exoplanets, researchers from Penn found that the majority of stars in their dataset are similar to the sun, implying that many stars in the Milky Way could host their own Earthlike planets.
Dark Energy Survey interim analysis sheds light on the evolution of the universe
Dark Energy Survey interim analysis sheds light on the evolution of the universe
Analysis of the survey’s first three years of data, which were used to make the most precise 3D map of the universe to date, is a key step towards understanding dark matter and dark energy.
In the News
Scientific American
Grumpy voters want better stories. Not statistics
In a Q&A, PIK Professor Duncan Watts says that U.S. voters ignored Democratic policy in favor of Republican storytelling.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Climate policy under a second Trump presidency
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.
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Interesting Engineering
Superhuman vision lets robots see through walls, smoke with new LiDAR-like eyes
Mingmin Zhao of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues are using radio signals to allow robots to “see” beyond traditional sensor limits.
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Technical.ly Philly
A sneak peek inside Penn Engineering’s new $137.5M mass timber building
Amy Gutmann Hall aims to be Philadelphia’s next big hub for AI and innovation while setting a new standard for architectural sustainability.
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Salon.com
Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.
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Associated Press
Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions
Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.
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The Wall Street Journal
How can we remove carbon from the air? Here are a few ideas
Jennifer Wilcox of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that the carbon-removal potential of forestation can’t always be reliably measured in terms of how much removal and for how long.
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Associated Press
California air regulators approve changes to climate program that could raise gas prices
Danny Cullenward of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the Weitzman School of Design says that many things being credited in California’s new climate program don’t help the climate.
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Times of India
Self shocks turn crystal to glass at ultralow power density: Study
A collaborative study by researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Science has shed new light on amorphization, the transition from a crystalline to a glassy state at the nanoscale.
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Interesting Engineering
U.S. achieves billion-fold power-saving semiconductor tech; could challenge China
A collaborative effort by Ritesh Agarwal of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has made phase-change memory more energy efficient and could unlock a future revolution in data storage.
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